Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616)
, Gypsy Witch, Witch | Identity = Secret | Alignment = Good | Affiliation = ; formerly , , , , , | Relatives = Red Lucy Keough (paternal ancestor)Official Corrections Avengers 2004 corrections; Quentin Keough (paternal ancestor); Lenore Keough (paternal ancestor); Jakob Eisenhardt (paternal grandfather, deceased); Edie Eisenhardt (paternal grandmother, deceased); Henry Pym (former "grandfather-in-law"); Erich Eisenhardt (paternal great-uncle, deceased); Ruth Eisenhardt (paternal aunt, deceased); Anya (maternal grandmother, deceased); Magda Lehnsherr (mother, presumed deceased); Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) (father); Joseph (father's clone); Django Maximoff (foster father, deceased); Marya Maximoff (foster mother, deceased); Ultron (former "father-in-law"); Scarlet Witch (clone); Anya Lehnsherr (sister, deceased); Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) (brother); Lorna Dane (Polaris) (paternal half-sister); Zala Dane (Zaladane) (alleged paternal half-sister, status uncertain); Ana Maximoff (adoptive sister, deceased); Mateo Maximoff (adoptive brother, deceased); Vision (ex-husband); Crystalia Amaquelin Maximoff (Crystal) (former sister-in-law); Alkhema (former "stepmother/sister-in-law"); Jocasta (former "sister-in-law"); Victor Mancha (former "brother-in-law"); Simon Williams (Wonder Man) (former "brother-in-law"); Thomas Maximoff (son, deceased); William Maximoff (son, deceased); Thomas Shepherd (Speed) (reincarnated son); William Kaplan (Wiccan) (reincarnated son); Luna Maximoff (niece); | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = formerly Castle Doom, Doomstadt, Latveria; The Works; Avengers Compound, California; Avengers Mansion, New York | Gender = Female | Height = 5'7" | Weight = 132 lbs | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Auburn | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = American | Citizenship2 = Transian | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Adventurer, formerly witchcraft tutor, housewife, mutant terrorist | Education = | Origin = Mutant | PlaceOfBirth = Wundagore Mountain, Transia | Creators = Stan Lee; Jack Kirby | First = X-Men Vol 1 #4 | HistoryText = Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Born at the Wundagore base of the High Evolutionary, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were eventually placed in the care of a Gypsy couple named Django and Marya Maximoff, from whom they were separated as teens when their encampment was attacked. They were later recruited into Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and, as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, fought the X-Men on several occasions . At the time, none of the three were aware of the siblings' paternity. Avengers They soon abandoned their terrorist activities, while Magneto was imprisoned by the Stranger, and joined the Avengers. The remaining founding members had all gone on a leave of absence, leaving Captain America to lead an all-new lineup including Wanda, Pietro, and the archer known as Hawkeye . Although she became more adept in her power's use, Wanda did not realize that she was tapping into genuine magic. It was believed that the Scarlet Witch would have been an ordinary energy manipulator or perhaps simply able to cause bad luck if not due to Chthon's attempt to use her as a pawn. Wanda fell in love with the synthezoid Vision, an artificial being created by Avengers foe Ultron who joined the team rather than fight them. The Scarlet Witch eventually married her teammate, the android Vision, not realizing that they were being manipulated by Immortus, who sought to prevent Wanda from having a child (Wanda was actually a key figure, or nexus being, to her reality, and her children would have power to shake the foundations of the universe). Wanda eventually drew on magic energy to give birth to twin sons, Tommy & Billy, but this energy was eventually revealed to have come from the demon Mephisto, who reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence. Wanda had also reanimated her deceased mentor, Agatha Harkness, through whom she cast a spell to make her forget her children in order to ease her pain. Though Wanda later recalled her loss, she suppressed this memory over the long term. After his reformation, The Vision and Wanda no longer shared the closeness they once had. While both were serving as members of the Avengers West Coast, Wanda also grew to love Wonder Man, the man whose brain patterns had been used to form the Vision's mind. Both were among the former AWC members who opted to form Force Works after the team's dissolution. As the leader of this new team, Wanda used a 'hex mainframe' computer designed by Iron Man. Through her powers and the computer's calculations, they could proactively determine where the team was most needed rather than react to an alarm or breaking news. Although Wanda was appointed team leader, she often clashed with Iron Man overriding her orders. She was deeply saddened by Wonder Man's death on the first mission of Force Works. After rejoining the Avengers, she used her increased powers to resurrect him, although his ionic energy likely made him able to be restored. For some time, Wonder Man was mostly a cloud of ionic energy that Wanda had to summon. ]] Training with Agatha Harkness increased Wanda's control of her 'chaos magic'. Even after Agatha died her astral form continued to assist Wanda. However, at least some of this training may have been an illusion made by Wanda herself. In years after, Wanda remained in her role as a longtime Avengers mainstay, salvaging her relationship with the Vision as best she could - although sparks also appeared with Captain America towards the end of her Avengers tenure - the moment she brought the team to its lowest moment ever recorded. The Scarlet Witch seemingly gained powerful reality-altering abilities from "Chaos Magic"; however, this proved to be an uncontrolled aspect of her mutant power and created a great mental strain on her. An unintentional remark by teammate Wasp about Wanda's lost children apparently drove her over the edge. She suffered a nervous breakdown and lashed out with her new power, subjecting the Avengers to a savage assault and apparently killing Agatha Harkness and some of her teammates. Others were injured or affected by various odd outbursts and incidents. The remaining Avengers gathered including a number of reservists. However, it appeared some of them were more illusions created by Wanda. Doctor Strange appeared, sensing abuse of magic, and angry that he had not been notified of Wanda's recent problems. Strange was forced to use the Eye of Agamotto on Wanda, which apparently showed her a memory so horrible she went into a catatonic state. Magneto suddenly appeared to collect his daughter, and brought her to Genosha so Professor X could help her. House of M Unfortunately, Xavier refused to do so as Wanda attempted to restore her husband to life and undo the damage she had caused. Keeping Wanda in a comatose state, Xavier ultimately called a meeting between the Avengers and X-Men to decide whether or not Wanda should be killed. Quicksilver was horrified at the fact that Xavier seriously considered killing Wanda and convinced Wanda to take desperate action to keep this from happening: By using her powers, Wanda warped reality into the House of M, a world where mutants were the majority, humans the minority, and Magneto the ruler (simultaneously giving various other heroes what they wanted most, hoping this would prevent them rebelling). In this reality, Wanda was believed to be a human, due to an alternate body she created to represent her in public while she cared for her children in private. A young mutant named Layla Miller (a deformed mutant who was given a normal body thanks to Wanda's reality warp) was able to use her mutant abilities to restore several of the heroes' memories. Meanwhile Wolverine (the only person who sensed the reality's "wrongness") and a resurrected Hawkeye (who had been seemingly killed during Wanda's breakdown) and Cloak gathered these heroes into an assault force to try to restore reality. This rag-tag army headed to Genosha to attack Magneto, believing him to be the one responsible for the change. During the battle between Magneto's forces and the others, Layla was able to restore Magneto's memories; as well, Wanda confessed to Dr. Strange that it was Quicksilver, not Magneto, who had initiated the reality warp. Enraged, Magneto confronted Quicksilver, angry that Quicksilver had done all of this in his name. Quicksilver told Magneto that he would have let Wanda die. Magneto replied that Quicksilver had only used him and Wanda. He then killed Quicksilver. Wanda revived her brother, telling Magneto that Quicksilver had only wanted him to be happy and that Magneto had ruined them, choosing the mutants over his own children. She further denounced Xavier and in three words ("No more mutants") Wanda changed the world back to its original form but added the mass depowering of 90% of the entire mutant population, thus being responsible for many deaths. Surviving mutants and ex-mutants referred to this as "M-Day: The worst day in mutant history." Post-House of M After the fallout, the resurrected Hawkeye/Clint Barton tracked Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain, where he unknowingly saved her from a thief. Wanda was living in a small apartment with her only relative, her "Aunt Agatha" (who was never seen, but could possibly have been a manifestation of Wanda's now-dead mentor Agatha Harkness; Wanda also mentioned this to Beast, saying she was stuck out here for purposes of looking after an "elderly relative" who would worry if she got home late, indicating that this Aunt indeed existed in some form). She appeared to be powerless and believed that she had lived her entire life in the village. She did not recognize Hawkeye, nor did she remember her life with the Avengers or other events. Wanda told Hawkeye that he was her "hero" for dealing a thief and kissed him, and they spent the night together. The following morning, while Wanda was sleeping, Hawkeye became curious about the next room where "Aunt Agatha" was supposedly sleeping, but the doorknob appeared to shift away from his hands, a subtle reality manipulation usually associated with the Scarlet Witch. However, Clint looked back to see that Wanda was still asleep. The mutant Beast later found Wanda at the same village and sought her help to deal with the aftermath of M-Day. She had no memory of him either, and claimed that she did not believe in magic. The Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed decided to find Wanda, as Wiccan wanted to know once and for all if she was indeed their mother. They traveled to several places connected to Wanda and themselves in their search, but Wiccan was unable to detect any sign of Wanda's magic. Wiccan and Speed united to search for her around the planet, but both ultimately failed, though they were told by Master Pandemonium that they had to cease their quest to seek her, lest risk unleashing the darkness of the Witch's past yet again. Later, the Asgardian god Loki, concealed in an astral form by simple spells and illusions, disguised herself as Wanda and assembled a new team of Mighty Avengers to be led by Hank Pym to oppose the demon Chthon. Chthon was eventually banished back to his own dimension, and his human vessel Quicksilver was released from his control. Loki's goal was to prevent another god of chaos from laying siege to the Nine Worlds and cracking Norman Osborn's armor to quicken his fall. She continued to assemble the Mighty Avengers, who remained unaware of Loki's involvement. None were aware that the true Wanda had yet to reemerge from seclusion, as only Clint Barton, Beast and higher powers than they, such as the Living Tribunal or Uatu knew of her status. Quicksilver, having joined the Mighty Avengers, sought to use his position on the team to find her, a desire unmissed by the impassive Loki. Pym also wanted to use Pietro in turn to solve the mysterious return of Wanda Maximoff. Agamotto later detected her presence and displays her as one of thirty possible candidates for the role of Sorcerer Supreme through his Eye, but due to her apparent lack of magic and past instability refrained from selecting her, instead choosing Brother Voodoo to fill the position. The Children's Crusade Main article: Recently Wanda was found in Latveria by her alleged son Wiccan. She seemingly lost all her memories and powers and engaged to Victor von Doom. Billy told her about who she was, and what she did. He also told her about her twin sons, and almost told about his suspicions that he and Tommy Shepherd are actually her reincarnated sons. His story was interrupted by the battle between the Avengers, the Young Avengers, Magneto and Doctor Doom. Wolverine tried to kill Wanda, but was stoped by Iron Lad, who teleported the Young Avengers and Wanda into the timestream. They all went into the past, and met reanimated Jack of Hearts, who exploded. After that Wanda remembered who she is, and regained her powers and returned herself, the Young Avengers and Scott Lang into the present. She then finally confirmed that Billy and Tommy are indeed her reincarnated sons. Realizing that her sons are alive Wanda met with X-Factor and repowered Rictor, planning to restore powers of all depowered mutants who wants it. It was revealed that Wanda's ability was brought about when Doctor Doom assisted her in becoming a conduit for Life Force itself, in an effort to recreate her children. The power was too great for her to control, leading to her breakdown. Doom stole Wanda's power and became omnipotent, but while battling the Avengers and the X-Men, his powers overloaded, leaving him with his scarred face again and powerless, unable to continue the battle, he teleported himself away. The X-Men agreed to leave her be, Magneto and Quicksilver both wished to spend time with her as a family and Captain America offered her a spot in the Avengers but Wanda declined saying she needed to be alone. Avengers vs. X-Men Wanda played a key role during the events featured in AvX. After defeating both M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M with the help of Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, she visited the Avengers' Mansion but was not welcome by Vision. She then began to have visions of the Phoenix Force; and during one of those visions, she foresaw a future in which the Phoenix killed the original Avengers. Believing the Mutant Messiah to be the key to defeating the Phoenix Five, which consisted of the Phoenix Avatars Cyclops, Emma, Namor, Magik and Colossus, the Avengers launched an operation to extract Hope from Utopia. If it wasn't for Wanda, they would have been defeated by Cyclops. Wanda convinced Hope to go with the Avengers, as Cyclops vowed that he would no longer tolerate the Avengers. After a confrontation between the Avengers and the Phoenix Five, in which Wanda defeated Magik, she began to train Hope with Spider-Man's help on Wakanda, but the Phoenix Five decided to take Hope back with them. As they began to attack the Avengers on different parts of the world, Wanda used her powers to appear in every battlefield, while Iron Fist took Hope and Wolverine to K'un-L'un. The Phoenix Five thought the many-Wandas were an illusion, so Namor decided to attack one of them. Much to his dissapointment, they were all real and, she defeated him. Namor then led the Atlanteans into war against Wakanda, and nearly-defeated all of the Avengers, until Wanda showed up and defeated him. When Cyclops managed to realize Hope was in K'un-L'un, he decided to travel there and take Hope back with him, but Hope used Wanda's and Shao Lao the dragon's power to send him to the Moon. After a brief confrontation between Hope and Wanda, which was stopped by Captain America, the Avengers came to realize Cyclops became the sole-wielder of the Phoenix Force, and the Dark Phoenix after killing Professor X. The Dark Phoenix began to burn the world so Wanda and Hope decided to join forces in order to stop him. Together, they managed to take down the Dark Phoenix. The Phoenix escaped Cyclops's body and entered Hope's. Then, Wanda and Hope wished away the Phoenix, but only after Hope used its power to extinguish the fires of the Dark Phoenix and restore the mutant population. Uncanny Avengers While visiting Charles Xavier's grave, Wanda was approached by Rogue who tried to make her leave. The two wound up fighting, when they were captured by the Red Skull. The Red Skull also took Xaviers corpse and cut out his brain, claiming his vast telepathic powers for himself. The Red Skull then used his powers to brainwash Wanda into helping him de-power mutantkind once again. While tracking down Rogue who had escaped his custody, Wanda encountered Xaviers corpse which snapped her out of the Skulls control. | Powers = Chaos Magic Reality Warping: Scarlet Witch's main power is the superhuman ability to manipulate chaos magic, given to her by the demon Chthon (imprisoned within Wundagore Mountain) when she was born. Her hexes were, by extension, simple, indirect manifestations of this magic, destabilizing probabilities by inducing chaos. The Scarlet Witch's powers are not fully under her conscious control, and their effects persist even after Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto shut down her mind. Even the combined efforts of the Sorcerer Supreme and Earth's most formidable psychic mind were unable to fully inhibit such effects for long. Wanda was even able, in the main reality, to generate armies from nowhere and revive Wonder Man from another plane of existence. Her powers were sought by Camelot's mistress of the mystic arts, Morgan le Fay, to bridge the gap between le Fay's faerie magics and the Asgardian Twilight Sword and restructure reality in the conniving witch's own twisted image. There seem to be no limits to her powers during House of M, as she was easily able to alter the entire Earth-616 reality at will, and is also altering reality on a near-multiversal scale, permanently shifting the nature of all possible futures of Marvel, without even realizing what she had done, though certain of her victims have claimed to be able to discern the difference between reality and her spells. Wanda was also shown to easily wipe any in her own illusory reality from existence with but a thought (the first two using her children, if possibly accidentally, as power conduits), even Veranke, Clint Barton and Nuke. Maximoff appeared capable of even causing the loss of 98% of the mutant population and the deletion of the Mutant Genome created by the near-omnipotent Celestials, her powers barely blocked by the joined forces of the Sorcerer Supreme and the strongest psychic mind on Earth, and even then only very partially so. Doctor Strange also states to Beast that Wanda's one spell is of such complexity and strength that it has woven itself into reality and the world of magic itself, and that if he were to even to try to reverse it, all of reality would implode; the spell Wanda cast also affects even the alternate realities, strongly implying she was of sufficient power to permanently change the Multiverse itself, which is nearly unprecedented, even by cosmic entities. Furthermore, in a reality diverging from the House of M's concluding events, "What If Scarlet Witch Ended the House of M event by saying No More Powers?", Wanda Maximoff is shown to display an even greater extent of power to remove at least all of Earth's super-humans of all their personal abilities, including breaking the connection a Sorcerer Supreme has with the mystic arts, canceling cosmic-energy based powers, such as that of the Fantastic Four, stripping all the world's mutants of their variety of powers and eliminating powers caused by irradiation on a cellular level or by gamma-ray blood transfusions, as well as revealing and de-powering all the concealed Skrulls on Earth and all Inhumans, including Black Bolt on Earth's moon. Wanda is even capable of healing the severely damaged legs of Charles Xavier while all his Earth and alien friends, allies and colleagues's efforts (including even giving Xavier a new body) apparently failed for countless years. Wanda Maximoff of the mainstream reality is actually considered the very "nexus-being" of the central universe of Earth-616, serving as the entity that personifies the realm's character and serves as the focal point or anchor of that reality (Uatu described a nexus-being as one of the "rare individual entities with the power to affect probabilities-and thus the future"), making her along the scales of class and power as the other known nexus-beings, such as Merlin, Sise-Neg, Kang the Conqueror and Leonard Tippit; Franklin Richards, Vision, Jean Grey/Phoenix, and Odin (those last four from alternate Earths), with Eleyn another nexus being from the Dan Abnett Scarlet Witch mini-series. As the spell causing Decimation only affected mutant-based powers, not mystic-based ones, in all logic, Wanda is still perfectly capable of wielding magic, even if her mutant hex-powers have been removed; even a normal human would hold some magical potential. Wanda's ability to channel and wield magical energy was brought about by the demonic sorcerer Chthon. On the day that Wanda was born, the ghostly specter of Chthon visited the newborn Wanda and "blessed" Wanda so that Wanda could channel the dangerous Chaos Magic that was the basis for Chthon's unholy might. Chthon's intentions were to create a vessel that he could possess one day, when Wanda was a full-grown adult, though his schemes to do so were foiled by the Avengers. As such, due to Chthon's "blessing", Wanda is also vulnerable to having all of her powers disabled if Chthon is ever disrupted. During the period in which pages from Chthon's sacred tome, the Darkhold, were scattered across the globe, Wanda's powers were periodically disabled -- with her being left powerless in several dangerous battles against various super-villains -- until several of the missing pages were restored to the book. Although this particular plot thread was stated by Agatha Harkness who was reanimated by Wanda. How much of it is true and how much of it is more unconscious manifestations of the Scarlet Witch's reality manipulation is up to the reader's preference. Wanda's power to alter reality itself was spawned from the combination of her natural mutant abilities to affect probability and Chaos Magic. Because of the nature of her powers, she does not possess certain limitations such as other reality warpers such as Mad Jim Jaspers who needs existing reality to use his powers. Her powers which stemmed out from the ability to manipulate probabilities suggest that she does not need existing matter to warp reality, only possibilities which are endless. It must also be noted that the Scarlet Witch is responsible for the resurrection of Mad Jim Jaspers which happened when her powers altered reality. As such, she may possibly be on par with Franklin Richards, though such a comparison might not be because Franklin Richards is still a child. Still, because of her "certain" advantages in her form of reality warping, Wanda might be one of the most powerful mutants that ever existed. *''Hex Bolts:'' Initially, the Scarlet Witch had the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts"). These hexes are relatively short range, and are limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex requires a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures are largely a focus for the concentration. Early in her career, her hexes were unconscious on her part, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest "bad luck" effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that her powers only work when she wants them to, and they are not limited to negative effects. She can use her hexes to light flammable objects, contain or remove air from a particular volume, deflect objects, stop the momentum of projectiles, open doors, explode objects, create force fields and deflect magical attacks. Her powers while beginning to unveil a higher potential appeared capable of prevailing against the mastered mystical ones of Dormammu in his own Dark Dimension when she and the Avengers fought against him for Avalon's Evil Eye power-object, albeit indirectly by disrupting the energies of Dormammu and the Eye. They have been known to alter the molecular composition and physical state of physical objects, negate or distort physical laws, and to cause various forms of energy to spontaneously appear or disappear. She has an affinity with natural elements and phenomena, stemming largely from her magical training under Agatha Harkness, and has trained often at using her hexes to deflect projectiles or to cause enemies to stumble or otherwise suffer the effects of "bad luck". Ultimately, the hexes are not under the Witch's direct control, although she can influence the nature of their effects with great concentration and effort. This makes her one of the few Avengers that Ultron fears; his adamantium shell cannot repel magic. She has displayed the ability to cancel Longshot and Domino's powers of probability and has also once turned Longshot into a cat. *'Flight:' Wanda has recently portrayed the ability to fly, though even prior to her mental collapse she has inexplicably demonstrated such an ability. The full extent to this ability is unknown. | Abilities = Expert Knowledge of Sorcery: Wanda was trained by Agatha Harkness in witchcraft. Her sorceress training has not given her a set of powers separate from her mutant abilities, but only honed her control over her existing abilities. She has, however, a special affinity for the natural elements and materials that witches utilize in their spells: the four alchemical elements, wood, organic substances, etc. Expert Combatant: Wanda has also been trained in hand-to-hand combat by both Captain America and Hawkeye. Expert Tactician: When sane, the experience and leadership skills that come from years of active duty as an Avenger. | Strength = The Scarlet Witch possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. | Weaknesses = Mental Illness: Although Wanda appears to be currently sane, her mental stability is still questionable, and after the events of the Skrull Secret Invasion, she still appears quite sane if powerless and lacking her previous memories. And it is unknown of whether or not she truly has any physical weaknesses as of now. Perception Range (formerly): Her range of hex-casting was limited by her line of sight. (She couldn't watch a live television broadcast and cause a hex-phenomenon to occur at its point of origin.) Physical Condition (formerly): Hexes had a degree of unreliability, which was further affected by her physical condition: when well rested, in good health, and mentally and emotionally alert, Scarlet Witch could cast numerous hex-spheres in rapid succession and attain desirable results for almost an hour. Overextension (formerly): Despite this enhanced precision, her hexes were not necessarily guaranteed to work, particularly if she had been straining herself or using her powers excessively. If overextended, her hexes could backfire, causing probability to work against her wishes or to undo previous hexes. | Equipment = Avengers Identicard (formerly) | Transportation = Avengers Quinjet (formerly) | Weapons = | Notes = * Scarlet Witch was featured in Mystic Arcana http://www.marvelcomics.com/news/-1.840. | Trivia = | Marvel = | Wikipedia = Scarlet Witch | Links = * at comicbookdb.com * at UncannyXmen.net Spotlight * at the Second String Sanctuary }} Category:Post-M-Day Mutants (The 198) Category:Twins Category:Magicians Category:Reality Warpers Category:Power Negation Category:Probability Manipulation Category:Magnus Family Category:Sorcerer Supreme Candidate Category:Divorced Characters Category:Jewish Category:Gypsies Category:Sega - Captain America Category:Trained by Captain America